A wide variety of low voltage components such as telephone cables, coax cables for television and interne service, wiring for home entertainment systems and surround sound, and cables for connecting computers to peripherals such as printers and facsimile machines, are prevalent in today's homes and offices. Frequently it is necessary to route these low voltage wires and cables through interior walls in order to connect low voltage components in separate rooms.
In some cases, holes are simply made in the baseboard or walls and low voltage cables are simply routed through the holes. However, this is an unsightly solution and detracts from the overall appearance of the building. One prior art device for routing low voltage components is that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,747 to Helmsdorfer, et al., issued on Aug. 25, 1987, which includes a wall aperture molding with a removable plate cover. The plate cover clips to the molding plate with the plate cover extending downwardly and outwardly from the molding plate to define a cable passage between the lower edge of the plate cover and the molding plate. The molding plate may be further provided with a gate slot to provide installation over pre-existing cables.
A disadvantage with prior art wall aperture moldings such as that described above is that they are not complementary with wall openings prepared for conventional electrical devices. Therefore, in order to install the prior art molding plate, a hole must be made specifically sized for the molding plate. A further disadvantage with the aperture molding described above is that it is limited to one orientation with respect to the molding plate. Prior art molding plates include a cable shield that extends outward from the wall. There are many situations in which a homeowner would desire a molding plate installation in which a cable shield or nose portion does not extend outwards, such as when it is desired to place a low voltage device, furniture, or other item close against the molding plate. In such a situation, it would be desirable to install a molding plate that did not project outward while at the same time obscuring the cable entryway from view.
What is needed therefore is a protective cable chute that is complementary to conventional electrical boxes and conventional low voltage frames and that can be attached thereto for the purposes of routing low voltage cables through walls. Furthermore, the protective cable chute should be capable of being reversed and mounted in more than one orientation with respect to the electrical box or low voltage frame, including an orientation in which no portions of the cable chute project outward from the wall to which it is mounted.